title: Crystal structure of a ten-amino acid protein.
abstract: What is the smallest protein? This is actually not such a simple question to answer, because there is no established consensus among scientists as to the definition of a protein. We describe here a designed molecule consisting of only 10 amino acids. Despite its small size, its essential characteristics, revealed by its crystal structure, solution structure, thermal stability, free energy surface, and folding pathway network, are consistent with the properties of natural proteins. The existence of this kind of molecule deepens our understanding of proteins and impels us to define an "ideal protein" without inquiring whether the molecule actually occurs in nature.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Central 6, Tsukuba 305-8566, Japan. s.honda@aist.go.jp
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Honda
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akiba
authors.forename: Yusuke S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Yoshito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sawada
authors.forename: Masakazu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sekijima
authors.forename: Miyuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishimura
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ooishi
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Odahara
authors.forename: Kazuaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Harata
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D008958:Models, Molecular; D055550:Protein Stability; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D011506:Proteins